Sunday, November 30, 2008

After I took pictures of Sierra and Brooke for Christmas, we had lunch and DD went out for a bit to do some shopping while Opa and I took care of the kids. Brooke went down for a nap and Sierra was playing with her dolls. She dragged all the kids' furniture out to the hall and I thought she was playing school as she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. The "camera" she is holding is actually a Leap Frog toy that teaches the alphabet. I kept hearing it while she was playing so naturally thought she was playing school. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her and the dolls. It wasn't until her father came home from work that I realized that she was taking pictures of her dolls. She had her dad strike a pose, got out the Leap Frog toy and "took" his picture. When I was taking the girls' pictures, I too sat on the floor in front of them.

Hmm, wonder how much the Fisher Price children's digital camera is. This just might be what she gets from Oma and Opa for Christmas.

I took about a dozen photos and this is the only one that I felt turned out half decent. It was quite a challenge get ting Sierra (3 1/2) and Brooke (17 mos.) to sit still and smile at the same time. Getting them dressed turned out to be quite a challenge as well. Sierra was fairly cooperative but at one point Brooke was running around without a diaper! LOL.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Brooke slid off her rocking chair and landed on her butt on the floor. She was not hurt but was startled and started to cry. The tears quickly changed to laughter when I said, "Brooke fall down and go boom!" She thought that was quite funny and then proceeded to fall down again, but this time on purpose.

Erica is giving away some fantastic blog candy as she is celebrating 5,000 hits on her blog. I, for one would love to win the Sarah Kay images and stamp. She will be picking the lucky winner next week Saturday (Dec. 6th).

I attended a "Make 50 Christmas cards in 3 hours" which was hosted by my niece, Krista; who is a Close to my Heart consultant. When I got the cards home, I decided to give it a bit more "bling" by adding this gold ribbon. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

I just finished taking some pictures of some cards. The whole time I was taking the pics, the camera was telling me to change the batteries. When I turned the camera back on to upload the pics to my computer, the batteries died. They are recharging now so I will post the pictures on my blog after I get home from work this evening. Stay tuned.......

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Buffy just celebrated her 12th anniversary on Nov. 23rd (Happy anniversary Buffy!) and she is giving away some really fantastic blog candy! Here is what she is giving away: in total there are 150 sheets of paper, that is 69 8x8's and 61 6x6's.

My daughter has tagged me. I have to answer all these questions! This might take a while.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I was named after my maternal grandmother.2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Can't remember.3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes.4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Ham.5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes, a daughter and a son and 2 beautiful granddaughters.6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think so.7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Sometimes but hubby uses it all the time.8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS. No9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Hell no!10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Brown sugar frosted mini wheats.11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Most of the time.12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not really .13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Jamoca Almond Fudge.14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their eyes.15. RED OR PINK? Pink.16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Right now it’s my hair - It needs a cut and dye job VERY badly, and am hoping to get it done on Tuesday.17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Mom.18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Sure.19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I am not wearing shoes at the moment.20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Toasted 12 grain bagel with Herb & garlic cream cheese.21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The horse racing channel on TV - DH likes to watch it but he is napping (as usual) right now.22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Blue23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Bread baking in an oven.24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My daughter.25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU TAGGED YOU AND GUILTED YOU INTO DOING THIS? Yes - and I couldn't very well refuse seeing she is my daughter and all.26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Figure skating and gymnastics.27. HAIR COLOR? Grey but I colour it dark blonde.28. EYE COLOR? Green29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.30. FAVORITE FOOD? Prime Rib of Beef.31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I much prefer a happy ending.32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The remake of Oceans 11 with George Clooney, Matt Damon and a whole lot of other big stars.33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Off white v-neck sweat shirt.34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs36. FAVORITE DESSERT? A big hunk of chocolate cake with butter cream frosting or my very own apple crisp or my very own raspberry cheesecake.37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I'm not sending this out so everyone can relax!38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND. See above.39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? None.40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I got a mouse pad from work last year from work and it provides the link I need to pick out my Benefits and Pension package I want to sign up for.41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Nothing.42. FAVORITE SOUND. When Sierra says: “I love you Oma!”43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles!44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? It’s a toss up between The Netherland’s, and Vancouver. But I believe it is the Netherlands.45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I can chew gum and walk down the street at the same time! Does that qualify? The only other special talent I have is making crafty things.46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Wehe-Den Hoorn, The Netherlands.47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Anyone that wants to play along.

Courtney is celebrating 60,000 hits on her blog and is giving away some fabulous candy. All you need to do is tell her what you are most thankful for, become a follower of her blog and post a link on your blog. Easy Peasy but ya gotta be in it to win it.

My niece, Krista who is a CTMH consultant is hosting a workshop this afternoon. We will be making 50 cards in 3 hours. I am looking forward to this workshop. It should be lots of fun. I will stop in at Michaels on the way there as they are having a 3 hour 15% off event. I need to get card stock and envelopes.

Friday, November 21, 2008

He opens a window. At least that is what my husband is hoping for. Steelcase, the company my husband works for is closing their doors here in Canada. Herb's last day was today. He has still not recovered completely from his ankle surgery and was working light duty for 6 hours a day. He said he only worked about an hour today but was there for 5 hours. He went around the plant and shook hands and said goodbye to a lot of people. He had been working there for almost 11 years and as a temp for a year before that. He and a some of his coworkers went across the street to the pub for a few drinks after work.

He has taken it in stride and will be looking for a new permanent full time position soon. I think he will be taking it easy for a bit. He goes back to see the surgeon on Monday. He is still wearing the air cast but does take it off and walks around the house without it. His ankle and foot still swell up and he is unable to wear his shoe on that foot. I can't see anyone hiring him until he is out of the cast and is able to walk without it. He says that there is very little pain.

The department he worked in before his surgery always bought lottery tickets together. Well, today was no different and he has a lottery ticket on tomorrow night's draw. It sure would be nice if he won!

I won some blog candy - 2 unity stamp singles - Love builds a home and With confidence from Brandi on her blog Barely Banana Days. Needless to say, I am looking forward to getting my goodies in the mail.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

When I arrived at work yesterday, I put my car keys on the front seat and proceeded to pick up my coffee, muffin and purse. Got out of the car and locked the door with the keys still on the front seat! AARRGGHH! I worked the late shift yesterday (and will be doing it today as well) 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and while walking to the parking lot, could not locate my car keys. Got to the car and since it snowed yesterday, I had to clean off the windows with my leather gloves and saw that I had left my keys on the front seat. I work in a huge building and our parking lot is humungous. After a 5 minute walk, I arrived back at my desk to call hubby to bring me the spare set of keys to my car. We live about a 30 minute drive from work so I had a long wait for hubby. In my defense, I have had this car for 4 1/2 years and it is the 1st time I've ever locked myself out of it. DH was not amused but took it in good stride and even had a big hug for me when I finally arrived home. Driving home was slow because of the snow that was falling. Some people need to take a course in winter driving - I got stuck behind someone on a major highway coming home who was so slow I was almost forced to exit before my exit as the lane we were in becomes an exit lane. We got 3 1/2 inches of snow (9 cm.). Let the fun begin! NOT!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Debbie is giving away some fabulous blog candy. She will draw a winner on Nov. 26th which just happens to be my big sis's BD.

Holly over at Hog Wild about Stamping is coming up to 20,000 hits on her blog and is giving away some fabulous blog candy to celebrate. The only catch is that she will be picking a winner sometime before Dec. 9th so you will have to visit her blog every day to see if you're a winner.

I received my very first award! Wow! I am blown away! This is very special to me as it was given to me by the very talented Mina!

Now for the rules for this award ..........The winner may put the logo on their blog. Put a link to the person who sent you the award. Nominate 5 blogs and put links to their blogs and leave a message for your nominees.

There are a lot of talented people in the blog world and this is going to be very hard to pick just 5! Here is my list:

My lovely daughter - Janice - she works full time and takes extremely good care of my beautiful granddaughters. I am proud to be her mother.Beatrice - she is my very 1st follower and a very talented cross stitcher. She and I have a lot in common as we are both Dutch immigrants.Tracy is a very talented card maker and I won some blog candy on her blog on Nov. 15th. I can't wait to get my hands on the CC designs stamp set that I won.Dianne is another talented card maker and also one of my followers.Karen who has some awesome paper projects on her blog.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Lynsey is celebrating 5000 hits on her blog and is giving away the following candy:Magnolia's Tilda with Wood Basket and she is from the new Winter 2008 collection. She has also included some stamped images, paper flowers, charms, die cut snowflakes and 6 x 6 K & Co paper pad. Lynsey will be picking a winner on Nov. 26th.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Well, as you can see for yourself, the cards I made for Sierra and Brooke were a big hit. Sierra walked up to me with her card and asked me to take her picture with it. I just love the cheesy grin on her face and the way she is holding it so as not to cover up the card. Opa and I babysat last night while my daughter and son-in-law went out on a much needed "date". Brooke cried for about 2 minutes when they left but we were able to distract her with a leap frog grocery cart. She had a ball with it; giving us "groceries" and then taking them away and putting them back in the cart. The girls had a lot of fun with us and even the "bath-shower" went well. Brooke normally squirms a lot when changing her diaper but she lay perfectly still for me when I got her ready for bed. Both girls went to bed readily and Sierra and I snuggled and played in her bed and then she went to sleep with her baby cabbage patch doll beside her.

Rina is giving away some fantastic blog candy on her site. She is celebrating 1000 hits on her blog! Go check out the fantastic creations of this Hawaaian princess!

Kristen is also celebrating 1000 hits on her blog with some great blog candy - 2 Martha Stewart punches and 2 really cute Whipper Snapper stamps! Ya gotta be in it to win it!

Gayle is giving away some Sugar Nellie stamps, hop over to her blog to have the chance of adopting these cute images. Sugar Nellie stamps are now available internationally. Whoo Hoo! I can already hear my Visa card groaning!

Lacey is celebrating her birthday and 30,000 hits on her blog by giving us the gifts! How sweet is that! She will be giving away some awesome blog candy on Nov. 21st.

Lara is also celebrating her birthday this month and is giving away some awesome blog candy to celebrate.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Here is the card I made for my granddaughters. They love dressing up and when I found this paper on Sunday, I just knew it would be perfect for a card for them. I made 2 cards exactly alike. Naturally, I couldn't wait to use my new cuttlebug! The papers I used are both from Imaginisce and is from the Fairest of Them All line. I cut out the castle and coach from one of the sheets of paper and then used a fiskars border heart punch on the princess tiara paper. I really like the way this card turned out. I did case a card that someone else made (the castle portion) and if it's your card I cased, please let me know so that I can give credit where credit is due. The rest of the card is entirely my own design. I also typed up the following poem that I found on the net and put it on the inside of the card:

Dressing Up

In the funny world of "make believe"It's marvelous you see -How you can be all of those thingsYou'll ever want to be:A beautiful young princess, a cowboy, or a clown,A lion from the circus that's coming up to town.A graceful ballerina, a nurse or movie star,A famous racing driver in a big, red shiny car.You don't need many things you know,Just a string of beads or two,A floppy hat, a cast-off skirtA cardboard box ... andYOU!

I won some blog candy from Tracy. She will be sending me a set of CC stamps! She was offering some blog candy for making the All that scraps design team and I won! I have to pinch myself. I will be stalking the mail man (er- make that mail woman). I can't wait to get my hands on the stamps and do something crafty with them.

After 2 other attempts; I was finally able to make a circle medallion! I am going to have so much fun making cards with them! I followed the instructions that Becca posted on her blog. She makes it look so easy but I tried 2 other times and then figured out I needed to make a slightly larger circle for the punch I was using. I used a CD to make the circle and then used an EK SUCESS corner punch that has hearts. As soon as I make a card with it; I will post it here.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

It seems that there is an awful lot of blog candy out there - just wish I could win one! Go visit Cathy - she has some awesome blog candy to give away for 10,000 hits on her blog. She will be picking 2 winners on Nov. 16th. Good luck!

I have been wanting a Cuttlebug for quite a while now. My local Michaels sells it for $109.99 but you cannot use any of their coupons as the coupons plainly state that all Cricut products are excluded. Bummer, or so I thought. I found a Canadian online shop in BC that sells it for $79.99 - not bad, but still a bit more that I wanted to pay.

On Sunday, I ventured out to Ajax and Oshawa to visit 2 scrapbooking stores. The sales lady in Oshawa was promoting the Quick Kutz revolution machine but again, I thought it was too pricey. I mentioned to her that I was in the market for a Cuttlebug for the simple reason that it takes all other machines`dye cutting and embossing folders. Another customer in the store overheard me and told me later on outside the store that Walmart in Whitby had it on for - are ya ready for this - $57.96!!! Whoo Hoo! Whitby is on my way home from Oshawa so off I went and bought myself a Cuttlebug! Let the fun begin! I bought one embossing folder to go with it. Walmart did not have a very large selection of them - they only had 2! I went online to the BCstore and have ordered some more embossing folders as well as some Spellbinder Nestibilities for a very reasonable price. I can`t wait to get my hands on my new toys.

I have made 2 cards with the embossing folder I bought at Walmart but will have to wait to post them as they are cards for my 2 grandchildren and I don`t want their mother to see the cards until the postman delivers them to them.

Not sure what happened but it's gone! I tried to re-upload it but cannot get it back. I am really bummed too. I did mention I would give away some blog candy when it hit 500. Instead of trying to get the counter back -keep your eyes and ears tuned for a give away from me.

Is this card. I really like this card. The silver you see around the edge of the inside on the maroon portion of the card came about quite by accident. I had moved the card and a portion of it landed on the silver ink pad. I thought the card was ruined and I was really bummed out about it. But then I had the brilliant idea of sponging some more silver ink around the edges to match the accident I had with it. I think it turned out quite well!

Here are some more cards I've made recently:The pink card is the make and take I made at the Scrapping Turtle in St. Jacob's.The blue card with stars is the 1st time that I coloured in a stamped image. I used plain ole colour pencils or pencil crayons as we say in Canada.The last card is one I made with all Close to my Heart papers which I bought from my niece, Krista who is a Close to my Heart Consultant.

I got a free counter thingamajig for my blog. When it hits 500, I will be giving away some blog candy. If you are a stitcher and you win, I will send you some stitching goodies. If you are a beader and you win, I will send you some beading goodies. If you are a knitter, and win, I will send you some knitting goodies. If you are a card maker or scrapper, I will send you some paper and embelishment goodies. Right now the counter shows 118 hits, so this might take a while before I give away some blog candy.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Bernie is giving away some yummy blog candy - you have until Nov. 14th to enter to win. She is also looking for some advice on how to store her nestabilities. Wish I could help her out but since I do not have any, I have no idea what to tell her. Maybe you can help her out.

I won a Thingamaboob keychain on my Daughter's blog! Whoo Hoo! And no, it was not fixed! This gives me the excuse to go visit my grandkids on the weekend so I can collect my prize! Breast cancer is an illness that has affected so many of us and as a tribute to her grandmother who died of this horrible disease, my daughter was "blogging" for the cure for the month of October and is making a donation to the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society. You can read all about her donation on her blog. While you're there, please read her post ``A Mars bar a Day`` which is a tribute to my MIL - the grandmother my daughter loved and who inspired her. You can find the post here: A Mars bar a Day.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

On Friday evening, I drove to my daughter's house to help her with Sierra and Brooke as they went trick or treating. My son Mike and his friend Sandra also arrived to help. Mike dressed up as a Monkey and Sandra was also dressed up. It was a very mild evening - just right for the kids who were out. Sierra had a ball and at one point said, "Halloween is good!" She was concerned for the candy in her bag when she met up with a cat in someone's driveway. She held her bag up to Sandra and told her to take it. When Sandra asked why, she replied that she did not want the cat to get her candy! LOL. The daycare that Sierra and Brooke attend used the American Sign Language to communicate with babies and toddlers who cannot express their feelings as yet. Janice started teaching Brooke at the age of 6 months. When Brooke was at someone's door, she signed "more". When the lady at the door asked Janice, what Brooke was doing, Janice told her about the sign and sure enough, the lady gave her some more candy. At one point, we met some adults who were dressed up accompanying their children, so Sierra walked up to them, held her bag open and said, "Trick or Treat!" Brooke wasn't into it as much as Sierra. She was quite content to sit in her stroller and eat some chips that she found in her treat bag.

Yesterday, while out for a walk with Sierra, she stopped and was staring at one of the houses that still had all their Halloween decorations up. She told me that she wanted to get some more treats. She wasn't too happy when I told her that Halloween was over and people were not giving out any more treats. I finally convinced her to come home with me when I told her that she had lots of treats at her house and she could have some when we got home. In this picture is Brooke, Sierra and my son, Mike getting ready to start collecting lots of candy.

About Me

Born in The Netherlands, emigrated to Canada at the age of 6 with my parents; 4 brothers and 2 sisters. I am 67, married to my best friend (Herb aka Opa)for 44 years, oma (grandma) to Sierra and Brooke and Amber who give me a lot of joy. Mother to Janice & Mike and MIL to Rob & Colette.
I enjoy making beaded jewellery, counted cross stitch embroidery, knitting and paper crafts. I enjoy making things with my hands but am not very creative and get a lot of inspiration from the internet.